Optimal Dispatch of Heterogeneous Air Conditioning Clusters for Photovoltaics Accommodation

In modern power systems with high penetration of renewable energy, the efficient interaction between demand-side flexible resources and the power grid has become a key approach to mitigating renewable generation fluctuations. As a typical flexible load, air conditioning loads exhibit significant potential for renewable energy utilization due to their large scale, low cost, and fast response capability. However, existing strategies for photovoltaic (PV) accommodation fail to fully consider the coordinated scheduling between heterogeneous air conditioning clusters and energy storage systems, and lack explicit modeling of the dynamic response of air conditioning loads. As a result, they are unable to effectively address the requirements induced by renewable energy fluctuations. To address these issues, this paper proposes a coordinated scheduling strategy for heterogeneous air conditioning clusters considering dynamic response characteristics, aimed at PV fluctuation smoothing. A hierarchical framework of “fixed-frequency priority, variable-frequency compensation, and energy storage backup” is developed. By incorporating response dynamics into the scheduling process, power–energy complementarity between air conditioning clusters and energy storage systems is achieved. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed strategy improves the PV fluctuation smoothing rate from 77.16% to 100%, significantly enhancing the local PV accommodation capability within the park.